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Ports & Logistics Forum by Opentop at the Valencia Digital Summit highlights the importance of open innovation in the industry

27/10/2022. Yesterday, October 26th, the “Ports & Logistics Forum” session of Opentop, Valenciaport’s open innovation hub, took place within the framework of the Valencia Digital Summit (VDS).

The VDS is the most relevant international tech event for entrepreneurs, startups, corporations and investors in the Valencian Community. This year, it was held with great attendance and opportunities in its 5th edition in the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia on October 25th and 26th.

The Opentop team, in addition to convening the port logistics sector in its forum, has been present throughout the event with its own stand to publicize its activities and objectives.

During these days, numerous entrepreneurs and startups have come to talk to the Opentop team about their projects, and also to learn more about the initiative and the opportunities and connections it offers with the port logistics sector.

Session “Ports & Logistics Forum by Opentop”

The main event for the sector was yesterday’s celebration of the “Ports & Logistics Forum by Opentop”.

The session was opened by Cristian Ull, Co-Founder of Area101, who welcomed the attendees and then conducted an interview with Pascal Ollivier, Chairman of IAPH (International Association of Ports and Harbors) Data Collaboration Committee, who explained in detail the work of the Innovation Working Group of this association.

Then, three of the authors of the white paper “The mindset shift towards innovation”, published by the IAPH, shared a round table to present this publication, a brief and non-technical guide that explains the positive impact that innovation can have on organizations, with practical examples of ports that have already implemented innovation initiatives.

Gadi Benmoshe, Chair of IAPH Innovation Group and Port Network Lead at Aeler; Roy Avrahami, Chief Innovation Officer at Ashdod Port Company; and Salvador Furió, Director of Innovation and Development of the Fundación Valenciaport Cluster, explained why this book is an essential document for senior executives in the port logistics sector who wish to promote a culture of innovation in their companies.

In addition, four startups participating in the first Opentop Incubation Program made a Pitch with the respective solutions they propose to the challenges of the port logistics sector.

Attendees were able to discover at first hand the startups’ projects: Metric Salad and its MetaPort solution to try to bring ports closer to citizens; the proposal of Desafío en Azul and its Recontainer solution to create the containers of the future; the project of We are Lab and its Nereidas Valenciaport solution to move towards a zero net emissions port, and the proposal of Code Contract and its Trackline solution to improve the exchange of information between the agents of the logistics chain.

To round off the day, Antonio Torregrosa, General Director of the Fundación Valenciaport, gave the keynote “Inspiring the good future for both ports and startups” in which he highlighted the important role of the Opentop initiative whose main objective is to facilitate the relationship between port companies and startups to create innovative projects that improve the competitiveness of the port logistics sector.

Torregrosa also took the opportunity to announce the imminent launch of the Opentop Acceleration Call, which will capture startups that help solve new challenges in the port logistics sector that will be announced very soon.